Shadow Kingdom Records

When the gods made heavy metal, it was the thunder issued from Bill Ward’s fists that set the scene, at least as equally as Tony Iommi’s lightning. You could not have had that demon birth with a lesser drummer at the helm. Mixing the satanic swing of jazz with sheer brute clobbering force, Bill Ward’s drumming turned the oldest form of long-distance communication into a manifesto of power. And a thousand children picked up sticks.

Hellbound’s Kyle Harcott in conversation with original Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward about his new art project, entitled Absence of Corners, and his upcoming musical releases.

Black Sabbath’s 13 might not have Bill Ward on drums, but this album does. Well, the first four songs of it, anyways. Seems that Bill Sabbath was slumming around back in ’83 when he hooked up with some cat named Mezmercardo for some session work, and the rest was buried in history… until now.

I gotta say, the first black metal album I ever bought was Venom’s Black Metal, and I haven’t purchased many others since. Alas, to call Toronto trio Demontage a black metal band would be applying the word in its traditional sense, the way it was once used to describe Venom and Mercyful Fate.

Prior to Nevermore, Warrel Dane cut his chops in Sanctuary. But prior to Sanctuary? Well, there was this band called Serpent’s Knight, of which remarkably little is known…until now. Shadow Kingdom, in conjunction with guitarist Brad Poland, released all of Serpent’s Knight’s material in remastered form. Accompanying the release are liner notes which seek to set the record straight on what actually went down with this, Dane’s formative band.

How significant a release is Manilla Road’s After Midnight Live? Imagine if Judas Priest or Iron Maiden suddenly went, “Whoops, look what we found lying around, a live recording from the early days featuring songs none of our fans have ever heard before.”

Ultimately, we can certainly see the past though rose coloured glasses, and Just As the Dust Had Settled does indeed provide a loving tribute-lyrics, notes, photos and all—to a band which some might feel didn’t quite get the recognition they deserved during their day. At the same time, however, some bands should just remain cult classics.

As previously mentioned in Albert Mansour’s recent Wolfbane review, Hellbound.ca has a pretty deep respect for the excellent job Pittsburgh’s Shadow Kingdom Records is doing chronicling long lost metal gems for modern day consumption. The long line of obscurities they have dug up in the past three years is admirable and this new reissue by legendary DC doom crew Iron Man is no exception.

Taking the name of his label from the first of writer Robert E. Howard’s fantastical Kull story series, it’ll probably come as no surprise that Shadow Kingdom Records’ and Distro deals extensively in material where swords, shields, impossibly tall marble castles and scenic green hills are stained claret-red with the remnants of some mythical battle feature prominently on album covers. But a random sampling of both the titles Shadow Kingdom owner Tim McGrogan distributes and the bands with which he works illustrates that he’s not as dogmatically dedicated to epic/traditional metal as you might expect.

If spending over two hours with the ‘Feg is your idea of a good time, you’re gonna love this! The Slay Stack Grows is a two-disc set featuring the band’s initial “White Tape” demo from 1990, along with their 1994 demo tape, four live performances and a German radio interview.